'Iron Man' Suit Under Development by US Army

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If you've always wanted a high-tech suit of armor that will make
you nearly invincible — à la Tony Stark of "Iron Man" — your long
wait may soon be over.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the
U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM)
and other groups from business and academia are joining forces to
create a
Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS, that
"promises to provide superhuman strength with greater ballistic
protection," according to a statement released by the U.S. Army.

The most amazing features of the suit include integrated
360-degree cameras not unlike
Google Glass (but with night vision capabilities), sensors
that can detect injuries and apply a wound-sealing foam, and —
get ready for this — a bulletproof exoskeleton made of
magnetorheological fluids that can change from liquid to solid in
milliseconds when a magnetic field or electrical current is
applied. [ Bionic
Humans: Top 10 Technologies ]

If it all reminds you of the liquid-metal shapeshifter T-1000
from "Terminator" or some other sci-fi character, you're not
alone. "It sounds exactly like 'Iron
Man,'" Gareth McKinley, a professor at MIT, told
NPR. "The other kind of things that you see in the movies I
think that would be more realistic at the moment would be the
kind of external suit that Sigourney Weaver wears in
'Aliens,' where it's a large robot that amplifies the
motions and lifting capability of a human."

The developers from RDECOM, MIT and elsewhere are researching
"every aspect making up this combat armor suit," Lt. Col. Karl
Borjes, a RDECOM science adviser, said in the U.S. Army
statement. "It's advanced armor. It's communications, antennas.
It's cognitive performance. It's sensors, miniature-type
circuits. That's all going to fit in here, too."

Not everyone, however, is enamored with the super-advanced gizmos
being proposed for the soldiers of tomorrow. "My sense is it is
an up-armored Pinocchio," Scott Neil, a retired special forces
master sergeant and Silver Star recipient, told the
Tampa Tribune. "Now the commander can shove a monkey in a
suit and ask us to survive a machine gun, IED [improvised
explosive device] and poor intelligence all on the same
objective. And when you die in it, as it melds to your body, you
can bury them in it."

Even believers in the TALOS suit acknowledge its limitations.
"The acronym TALOS was chosen deliberately," McKinley said. "It's
the name of the bronze armored giant from 'Jason and the
Argonauts.' Like all good superheroes, Talos has one weakness.
For the Army's TALOS, the weak spot is either the need to carry
around a heavy pump for a hydraulic system, or lots of heavy
batteries. We don't have Iron Man's power source yet."

For would-be sci-fi superheroes who are ready for their very own
TALOS, the wait may prove excruciating: Though various components
of the suit are currently in development, the Army hopes to have
a prototype ready next year, and an advanced model won't be
developed until at least two years after that.